Missing out on Key Talent?
Like many of you I’m sure, I was following closely the Irish Apprentice over the last 12 weeks or thereabouts. Something jumped out at me from the winner Michelle and her reasoning for wanting to win the Apprentice and she repeated it more than once during the series. She told Bill Cullen and the Audience she was stuck. Stuck How?
For a number of years it was explained Michelle was employed in telecommunications sales as a Corporate Account Manager and she felt her current role was stagnant and when she searched for alternative employment the only offers she could secure were to work in telecommunications as a corporate account manager funnily enough. I think there are many who can resonate with this feeling.
So Michelle over a number of tasks proved that yes she could sell, but not just phone packages. She sold hotels rooms, cars, chocolate and jewellery among others.
In addition to her sales skills she displayed skills in event management, staff management, web design, and marketing among others.
What am I getting at? Well are most companies in the current market looking for the exact fit every time like when Michelle only received offers from rival companies? Why could she not move into marketing, event management, web design etc? I understand there would be a training period and it might take a little longer to get up to speed coming from an alternative background but she and the other candidates proved their ability to be flexible and learn new skills quickly and efficiently.
I believe that by looking to specifically hire the perfect match to a Job description many organisations are missing out on top quality people who can add value and be inspired by a new challenge. I’m assuming the Apprentice winner applied for other jobs and after reviewing her and the other candidates performance’s throughout the tasks surely some organisations in Ireland thought to themselves we could use a talent like that.
Now she has the new challenge she craved and after hearing a report about last year’s winner on the radio this week, who sold a record amount of fleet vehicles last year and has secured his job after the initial one year contract, this year’s winner’s future is bright.
The lesson here is maybe Irish companies can benefit by operating a little more flexibly when hiring new talent, Good people adapt and learn quickly and if you can engage an employee the results can be beneficial especially if they come from a different environment to the majority of your employees. An ability to think differently can add to the bottom line and really make a huge difference in a competitive market.
Daryl Buggle | Recruitment Consultant | Cpl Healthcare
Nursing | Medical | Social Care | Pharmacy | Allied Health | Medical Sales |Dentist
Daryl.buggle@cplhealthcare.com | +353 1 482 5419 Phone
